Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance

FAMILY HEIRLOOM RECIPES

Picnics and Family Reunions

 

South Dakota State Fair

August 31, 2014

 

First Prize Winner

 

(Image by Catherine Lambrecht)

 

First Prize:

RAHMSTRUDEL

Mary Helen Wipf, Huron, South Dakota

 

 

In 1979, I married into the wondrous culinary world of the German Mennonites. Cream, Eggs, Flour …. Eggs, Flour, Cream …. Flour, Cream, Eggs …. I was amazed to learn how creative my husband’s ancestors had been in transforming these few items into so many delicious dishes. One of my family’s favorite combinations of these always abundant resources is rahmstrodel.

 

This recipe was created by Susie (Glanzer) Wipf who passed it to her daughter Katie (Wipf) Tschetter, whose children were always delighted to hear rahmstrudel was being served for supper. Katie’s youngest and only daughter, Phyllis, working in the kitchen beside her mother, mastered the skill of making rahmstrudel. Phyllis’s three older brothers, Art, Pete, and Jonas, would even ask their little sister to make this reminder of childhood for them years after they left the farm. Phyllis tweaked the dish by adding meat to the original recipe – making it more of a meal for her family. This is the version that Phyllis taught her daughters and (much to her son, Ron’s, delight) myself, as a young bride.

 

It is traditionally made in a blue-speckled enamel roaster that goes from oven to table. Pieces of rahmstrudel are cut and smothered with a ladle of creamy gravy from the roaster. Each awaiting diner hopes they will be the recipient of one of those extra delicious pieces with the golden crust that had bubbled above the creamy gravy during baking. At our house, rahmstrudel is served with fresh fruit in the summer and canned fruit in the winter, making it a year-round meal. When Travis and Jason, my two grown sons, come home for a visit, they often ask for rahmstrudel. When the request is made, I have them help me so they too can learn the family recipe.

 

I believe Great-Great Grandma Susie would smile over her descendants enjoying her unique combination of cream, eggs, and flour. The tradition lives.

 

 

 

First Prize:

RAHMSTRUDEL

Mary Helen Wipf, Huron, South Dakota

 

 

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups of flour. divided

3 TB butter, cut into 6 chunk

1/3 lb of your favorite thin-sliced smoked ham

Salt

Pepper

1 c Half & Half

2 c Whole Milk

13″ Oval Roaster

 

Butter the bottom and sides of roaster. Beat eggs in a medium bowl. Mix in 1 c of the flour. Knead in the remaining flour on a large flat surface to form soft roll-able dough. Roll out dough to a 12″ diameter.

 

Cut dough in half and shape first half to fit bottom of the roaster. Put other half aside. Layer ham on top of butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour in half & half. Shape second piece of dough to roaster and lay on top. Pour in whole milk.

 

Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees, covered. Take lid off around 45 minutes to get a brown crust. Serve rahmstrudle from the roaster and ladle the extra gravy from bottom on each serving.

Serves 2, but could easily be doubled or tnpled with a larger roaster.